J
jlbastian
Guest
So a little birdie told me I am supposed to tell a story in here...I already really think this place is great!
First of all, I am Jennifer, I am 22 years old and I live in Northwest Ohio, near Toledo. I am currently a student at a local community college in a two year Physical Therapy Assisting Program, which is taking a lot longer than two years thanks to Crohns! I work part time at an all boys Jesuit High School, which I absolutely adore, it is the best job ever. I have a great family, who is really supportive, and friends who are the same. I have one older sister, Dusty (28) who has a 6 year old son who is the love of my life. There is no history of Crohn's in my family, I have one Aunt with MS and Colitis, but that's the closest thing. They actually think what may have triggered it is a round of intense anti-biotic therapy (three or four different kinds over the course of about three months) to combat a wicked infection when I had my wisdom teeth removed as a Sophomore in HS.
Only read on if you have the time...this is much longer than I expected. I apologize!
I have always been a pretty sickly person, in and out of the hospital for various things my entire life. It started to get progressively worse through high school as college time approached and stress levels were rising. I slept alot, was losing weight, couldn't keep much in my system as far as food was concerned, but I just assumed it was because I was stressed. The Christmas break of my senior year was when it got really bad: sleeping 18 hours of the day, vomiting, blood in stool...you guys kow the drill. So I was shipped off to the hospital for a week for all the tests. They suspected Crohn's, told me to get a colonoscopy when I was released, put me on prednisone and sent me home. I then started to feel better (because of the pred.) and was honestly scared to death of what was really wrong with me, so I procrastinated the test for the rest of my senior year, and the summer following.
That Christmas (2002) it all went downhill again, spent another week in the hospital, where I was officially diagnosed. At this time, I was in school at the University of Toledo on a full ride scholarship, which I eventually lost because I just couldn't keep up. Went through the normal string of medications, Prednisone (which made me absolutely flipping insane, completely psychotic to the point of having to be on valium 24hrs a day), Pentasa (made me lose my hair) various forms of 6-mp...nothing made me feel 100%, (or even 75%) so as a last resort I began Remicade infusions in August of 2004. These put me in remission, and I was able to get back in school. For the last year I have felt really great, with the exception of some high stress situations having to do with my father being very ill. A few months ago, I started having pains in my right side after every meal, early satiety, and a lot of vomiting after eating. Went in for the tests again (small bowel serious, upper GI, coloscopy), and they found a stricture in my terminal ileum due to the build up of scar tissue from when the diesase was active. I was hospitalized for pain management and dehydration. During that time I consulted with the surgeon about the course of action, he did a colonoscopy two days later and that afternoon I was in surgery. They removed 2 inches of my terminal ileum, the ileocecal valve and two inches of the first part of my large intestine. I was determined to get out of there, so I was up walking by 10 the next morning, eating by noon, and home in my own bed by the following day. It was all done laproscopically, so my healing time was cut in half, I was back to doing fairly regular activites by about two weeks.
The best news I have heard in a very long time: the only portion with active disease anywhere in my GI tract was the part that is now in the trash! So, I am going to continue on Remicade every 10 weeks and see how things go...
So that's my story. I suppose I am one of the lucky ones, especially to have been in remission for over a year. I absolutely could not have gotten through this without the unwavering support of my friends and family, and places like this.
Thanks for listening
First of all, I am Jennifer, I am 22 years old and I live in Northwest Ohio, near Toledo. I am currently a student at a local community college in a two year Physical Therapy Assisting Program, which is taking a lot longer than two years thanks to Crohns! I work part time at an all boys Jesuit High School, which I absolutely adore, it is the best job ever. I have a great family, who is really supportive, and friends who are the same. I have one older sister, Dusty (28) who has a 6 year old son who is the love of my life. There is no history of Crohn's in my family, I have one Aunt with MS and Colitis, but that's the closest thing. They actually think what may have triggered it is a round of intense anti-biotic therapy (three or four different kinds over the course of about three months) to combat a wicked infection when I had my wisdom teeth removed as a Sophomore in HS.
Only read on if you have the time...this is much longer than I expected. I apologize!
I have always been a pretty sickly person, in and out of the hospital for various things my entire life. It started to get progressively worse through high school as college time approached and stress levels were rising. I slept alot, was losing weight, couldn't keep much in my system as far as food was concerned, but I just assumed it was because I was stressed. The Christmas break of my senior year was when it got really bad: sleeping 18 hours of the day, vomiting, blood in stool...you guys kow the drill. So I was shipped off to the hospital for a week for all the tests. They suspected Crohn's, told me to get a colonoscopy when I was released, put me on prednisone and sent me home. I then started to feel better (because of the pred.) and was honestly scared to death of what was really wrong with me, so I procrastinated the test for the rest of my senior year, and the summer following.
That Christmas (2002) it all went downhill again, spent another week in the hospital, where I was officially diagnosed. At this time, I was in school at the University of Toledo on a full ride scholarship, which I eventually lost because I just couldn't keep up. Went through the normal string of medications, Prednisone (which made me absolutely flipping insane, completely psychotic to the point of having to be on valium 24hrs a day), Pentasa (made me lose my hair) various forms of 6-mp...nothing made me feel 100%, (or even 75%) so as a last resort I began Remicade infusions in August of 2004. These put me in remission, and I was able to get back in school. For the last year I have felt really great, with the exception of some high stress situations having to do with my father being very ill. A few months ago, I started having pains in my right side after every meal, early satiety, and a lot of vomiting after eating. Went in for the tests again (small bowel serious, upper GI, coloscopy), and they found a stricture in my terminal ileum due to the build up of scar tissue from when the diesase was active. I was hospitalized for pain management and dehydration. During that time I consulted with the surgeon about the course of action, he did a colonoscopy two days later and that afternoon I was in surgery. They removed 2 inches of my terminal ileum, the ileocecal valve and two inches of the first part of my large intestine. I was determined to get out of there, so I was up walking by 10 the next morning, eating by noon, and home in my own bed by the following day. It was all done laproscopically, so my healing time was cut in half, I was back to doing fairly regular activites by about two weeks.
The best news I have heard in a very long time: the only portion with active disease anywhere in my GI tract was the part that is now in the trash! So, I am going to continue on Remicade every 10 weeks and see how things go...
So that's my story. I suppose I am one of the lucky ones, especially to have been in remission for over a year. I absolutely could not have gotten through this without the unwavering support of my friends and family, and places like this.
Thanks for listening
